William Dunstan VC

Ballarat man awarded the Victoria Cross!

Wonderful news in 1915!

We've written about Corporal Dunstan VC in previous posts.  His actions - his conspicuous bravery - on August 9th, 1915 during the battle of Lone Pine, earned him this award.

It was October 15, 1915, when the news was made official and listed in the London Gazette.  The news reached Ballarat by Saturday 16th October, and was reported - heartily - by the Ballarat newspapers on Monday 18th October.  You can view the newspapers' full reports on TROVE, but here is an article indicating the shyness of Corporal Dunstan and his humility.

Ballarat Courier 18 Octoner 1915

The 7th and 8th Battalions at Ismailia on the Suez Canal

The 8^th Battalion recruited from Ballarat, central and Western Victoria.  Lieutenant Colonel William Bolton, of Ballarat, originally led the Battalion, and there are many Ballarat names in the Battalion’s rolls.  The 7^th and the 5^th Battalions also carried recruits from Ballarat and district.

The Battalions were encamped at Mena in Egypt and “enjoying” their desert training (things had become monotonous) when news was received at headquarters of a large Turkish force advancing across the Sinai Desert, aiming to capture the Suez Canal and threaten Cairo.  British commanders called up reinforcements to protect the canal around Ismailia, and the reinforcements selected were the two country battalions of the 2^nd Brigade – the 8^th and the 7^th.

Colonel Bolton wrote of the excitement aroused by news received at midnight on 3^rd February of the move to the Suez Canal:

…[the Battalions were] to be ready to march out of camp in one hour…Talk about excitement in the camp…long before the hour was up these two battalions were out on parade and ready to move off…men delighted with prospect of change…whole camp turned out of bed and lined the road to wish us luck and express envy and regret at not going with us ¹

But the excitement was short lived. The Turkish forces were withdrawing by the time the Battalions arrived. Despite being detailed for a pursuit across the Western Sinai Desert, the orders were soon cancelled, and there were “plenty of disappointed faces” as one soldier noted in his diary.

In fact the Turkish advance across the Sinai was disastrous for them, with thousands of casualties, and the ease with which the Turks were repulsed influenced the thinking of senior British commanders, who felt the fighting value of the Turkish soldier was very low.  This thinking was to have profound consequences, when the two armies next met – at the Dardanelles.

 

The 8th Battalion travelled to and from Ismailia on open railway trucks

1.       Austin, Ron.  Cobbers in Khaki: the history of the 8^th Battalion 1914-1918. 

         Slouch Hat Publications, 1997 p.  29   (available in the Australiana Room if you’d like to read more)

Richard Wells and Con Burrow, of Ballarat

Richard Wells was the subject of a previous post (24th November 2014), where we found that he was not a Ballarat man, but included in the Avenue of Honour.  His father in law, Con Burrow, lived in Ballarat, and I became curious to know who he was.

This is his entry in Citizens and Sports, one of our favourite resources in the Australiana Room:

Goodness! Can you read all those abbreviations? Con Burrow is evidently one of Ballarat's outstanding citizens, a publican and a military man. Both his sons, Sgt. Arthur Alfred and Lieutenant Sydney are with the AIF, in the 8th and 7th battalions, respectively.  I see now that Richard Wells would have been welcomed into the Burrow family, and everyone must have been very pleased to see that he had been promoted to Major on January 1st.

Imagine Richard's wife - her husband and both brothers on active service.

And this is a link to a quite splendid photograph of Con Burrow, held at the State Library Victoria.

Private George Douglas

This week’s post presents a problem many family historians encounter – “the mystery man”.

Private George Douglas’ Service Records on the National Archives of Australia website, state that his place of birth was Ballarat East, and that he enlisted in Ballarat. His occupation was given as Miner, and his Next of Kin was his sister Olive. His age is 23 years and 1 month, in December 1914.

So he should have been born around 1891, but when we look in the Victorian Birth Death and Marriage records, we cannot find him.  A search for his sister Olive is also inconclusive.  We can find a George Douglas, with a sister Olive, but his birth year is 1886, making him much older than 23, and neither of them were born in Ballarat.  A search of the Victorian Death Index also doesn’t reveal anything.

His enlistment papers suggest he was originally in the Light Horse, but he is listed in the All-Australia Memorial as part of the 3^rd Reinforcements for the 7^th Battalion.  This means he was serving under Lt.Col. Harold (Pompey) Elliott, in the Infantry.  In the Memorial, his address is given as North Carlton – what was he doing there, if his occupation was “miner”?

So there are many questions we can’t answer about this fellow. Nevertheless, we are going to include him, and follow his experiences through the Great War, as he represents many of those soldiers about whom nothing much is known.  Just maybe, by including him here, someone will be able to give us better details.

George Douglas enlisted on 10 December, 1914, and after only about 3 months training, he left Australia on 25 February, 1915.

"ANZACs in the Making" from The All-Australia Memorial: History, Heroes, and Helpers
a copy can be found in the Australiana Room at Ballarat Library